侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第8期:性别二态性

 　　In addition to the CAT scans and the fossil remains¹, paleontologists looked to modern animal behavior for clues.

　　除了CT扫描和化石残骸以外，古生物学家们还在现代动物行为中寻找线索。

　　The one thing that doesn't change in the animal kingdom is behavior.

　　动物王国的一个不变之处就是行为。

　　All the animals, including man, have the same basic behavioral traits as our ancestors.

　　包括人类在内的所有动物都有和祖先一样的基本行为。

　　Knowing this, paleontologists are able to look at modern life as a way to understand the behavior of prehistoric² life.

　　正因如此，古生物学家们能够把观察现代生物作为了解史前生命行为的一种方式。

　　There's little doubt that a male Majungasaurus was a formidable creature.

　　雄性玛君龙是一种可怕的动物这一点基本没有争议。

　　But something that could dramatically change the dynamic of the fight would be gender³.

　　不过有一件可能会彻底改变搏斗的动态的事就是性别。

　　While studying the fossil site, investigators⁴ came to wonder if one of the dinosaurs⁵ in this battle had been female.

　　在研究化石场的时候调查者们开始怀疑这场恐龙大战中的一头是雌性。

　　By studying the fossilized remains of several dinosaurs and looking to modern animals for clues, paleontologist attempted to find answers.

　　古生物学家们通过研究几头恐龙的化石残骸并且参考现代动物行为来试图解开谜团。

　　The first step was to find out how female dinosaurs might have looked compared to males.

　　第一步就是要确认雌性与雄性的外观有什么区别。

　　Majungasaurus, like most theropods, most meat eating dinosaurs,跟多数兽脚类恐龙和食肉恐龙一样，

　　there was probably a sexual size difference between the males and the females.

　　玛君龙的雄性和雌性之间很可能体形大小有差异。

　　In Tyrannosaurus-Rex we know that the biggest and battiest ones were females.

　　我们知道最大最壮的霸王龙是雌性。

　　But we don't know yet because we don't have enough specimens⁶ how Majungasaurus fit into that scheme.

　　但因为样本不充分，我们仍不知道玛君龙这方面如何。

　　Although there may have been a difference in size, their basic skeletal design would have remain the same.

　　虽然可能有形体大小差异它们的基本骨骼设计是一致的。

　　The female would've had the same short arms and legs, sharp teeth and power tail.

　　雌性应该有类似的前肢和腿锋利的牙齿和有力的尾巴。

　　But their general appearance may have been quite different.

　　但是它们的外观可能有很大区别。

　　When we look at lots of different animals today, people are good example, the males and the females look different.

　　我们现在观察的很多不同动物人就是很好的例子雄性和雌性看起来都不一样。

　　We call that sexual dimorphism.

　　我们称之为性别二态性。

　　And a good question is this:

　　一个重要的问题就是：

　　"Was Majungasaurus sexually dimorphic, "did the males look different from the females?"“玛君龙有性别二态性吗？“雄性跟雌性看起来不同吗？”

　　Once we look at theropod dinosaurs, virtually any species where we have multiple specimens,只要我们观察兽脚类恐龙，对于有多个样本的物种we do see that they tends to be two morphs or two type once they get to adult stage.

　　都能看到在其成年阶段会有呈两种形态的趋势。

 

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》